Nothing is True, Everything is Permitted

Category Archives: Philosophy

Section 2 – Spiritual Heritage

19 — The Chapter of the Rosy Light

A-UM !

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12. And Chrishna, the Bringer of Light, spoke unto his Disciples, saying the ancient Precepts over again, as he had spoken them in previous Incarnations, aeons and aeons of ages ago on earth; in times long lost within the dark oblivion of the far, dim past.

13. ‘Have Faith, be it even a little faith, for this will save thee from many calamities and free thee from all fear.

14. ‘This is a great and simple Law: a Law unto the faithful; for men who trust in worldly aid live in complexity, having manifold intricate laws, which are like shifting sands that suck the wanderer who trusts in their solidity unto perdition.

15. ‘For such laws are like unto the souls that made them, whose only foundation is the nether world.

16. ‘Such have no faith, no trust; first, because they judge all other men by the faultiness of their own foundations, and secondly because all their laws consist of contradictions, twisted by rogues for the destruction of fools, who place in them their foolish worldly trust, and give credence to their makers and expounders.

17. ‘Have only faith in God and in the Lords of Life, whose words are Truth, whose Laws are just and sure, unchangeable and not to be distorted by the arts of devils’ ingenuity; for based they are upon the adamantine surety of God’s own Mercy and His Justice, which can no more be deviated by slick excuse and sly prevarication than an ant can overturn a mighty Alp.

18. ‘Therefore, in no man place thy trust, for he is powerless to aid thee by himself, or lead thee to the Safety of Light and Truth:

19. ‘For all men are but instruments, blind tools, who act upon the inspiration (quite unknown to them) which comes from God….or from the Serpent; and wise is he who knows the veritable source of ignorant man’s actions.

20. ‘The man who thinks he does thee well may be thine executioner.

21. ‘The man who hateth thee, can, mayhap, be just the very tool which opens up the door which leads unto the Path of thy Salvation.

22. ‘And only God can separate the false and the true and know the hidden purpose and the spring of all men’s slightest actions.

23. ‘Distrust the man who spurs thee on to do good works to reap the fruits of good deeds done;

24. ‘Who prophesies great wealth and power if thou do thus and thus, and so and so;

25. ‘Who prates to thee of endless lives on earth in utter bliss, if thou abound in charity and temple rites, of wealth and power, which (he says) is God’s reward for those who prop the State and Constitution;

26. ‘Who grants thee merit, bountiful, in future times for present works of ‘faith’, according to his precepts;

27. ‘Who promises to teach thee full control of all the elements and demon forces: that thou mayest rule the earth and all that’s on it and within, by means of magic rituals.

28. ‘For know that they who promise this, or who desire vast wealth and power, are lax of soul and mind, forsaken by the Father for their lies and greed, and handed over to the lower ones, to live and die in spiritual destitution.

29. ‘The man who puts his trust and faith in other men is lost for sure, and when he seeks the help of God at last, it is too late, for God will send him to the men in whom he placed that trust and faith, for such is the Law, in Truth and Justice.

30. ‘Be free of all the laws laid down by men: but do not act against them.

31. ‘Be free of all the rituals and priests: but let who will obey them.

32. ‘Be free of that self-righteousness which calculates its profits due when all its devilments are done: for the Serpent only will take profit in the end.

33. ‘Thou! Go forth when the time of thy Mission arrives; do right; ask not, and thou shalt not want.

34. ‘Be right deeds themselves thy reward, and not their fruits: for by acting rightly thou doest God’s own work at His behest, and not thine own.

37. ‘Right acts must be thy piety, not mumbled prayers at the holy shrine; for this is the excuse of sluggards, to sit and pray instead of being up and doing.

38. ‘Plan not what thou shalt do ‘tomorrow’, nor prate about the work of later days: but do it NOW.

39. ‘Cast Self aside, condemning gain and merit.

40. ‘Be poised and calm in good and evil times; for those who in this way show God their love and trust will reach the Peace, unknown to men whose love and faith are in the world, instead of in the Father.

41. ‘Let the Soul be thy Heaven, counselling the Mind with Wisdom, and scorn all those who practise virtue in hope of reward.

42. ‘For this is pure devotion and attunement with the Higher Worlds, and the Soul of God, and those who dwell within his Radiance.

43. ‘And cast aside good deeds and bad alike, following the Call of the Inner Voice, though thou hearest not its utterance with outward ears.

I have spent so long under this hot desert sun, dreaming up cages and sweet releases of rain and thunderstorms, that I somehow stumbled past the realization of no longer being tied to any wire. The freedom I craved was apparently mine to bestow upon myself – for quite a while now. But I had spent so long deceiving myself when it came to my reasons for staying, I had truly come to believe that I was stranded. Abandoned off some highway so distant and untraveled, that my weary wings would never be able to bear me to civilization ever again.

And I lay on the ever hardening, burning Earth, convinced that what I felt was coldness inside. Was it? I don’t know anymore.. Have no way of knowing. At least not immediately. But, fighting pain with more pain is a hatchling habit that should have died a long time ago. Except my obsession with souvenirs includes saving remnants of who I have been. Living ghost memories of parallel personalities that allowed me to sneak past life events before being able to fully comprehend them. Guardians that may or may not have outlived their purposes, but it doesn’t matter, because I never learned to let go.

And we have sailed, with inappropriate laughter and tears, to this utterly bizarre point in time, all out of sync except when it comes to the burning rage at the core of us all. I think it’s the scintillating fusion of burning rage and the helplessness that comes with being not strong enough that gave birth to most of these ghosts in the first place, not quite unlike every other phoenix. Except since they never die, they are never reborn – simply frozen in time like ghosts that should fade, but never learned how to.

These are the ghosts that bind me. The remnants of a past so distant, I cannot even think of that person – those persons – as myself. And thus my frozen portraits bind me to the present, unable to move forward in time long enough to burn to ashes and be reborn. My sentimental heart longs for one more rain before it will allow me to go. But she is untrustworthy, and no amount of water will ever be enough. She shall always be thirsty.

I remember an old professor now. Back when I was so young that even the dreariest day brought with it abundant hope and the promise of adventure. The World was our’s. And he told us how it worked. How sometimes, it didn’t matter how much effort, time, capital or energy you had invested in a project. Sometimes, you had to realize that there would be no returns. Sometimes, you had to simply cut your losses. Those losses are your “Sunk Costs”, and well, it was an economical serenade to the concept of letting go. Harsh, practical and so true.

Except, I must be bird brained. Because despite knowing that, here I am. Cooking in the middle of a desert where I’m not even wanted, and where I have *never* wanted to be. What for? For years and years of sunk costs, I say. Years and years. And I’ve been putting away my turning to ashes and being reborn by one last thunderstorm and one last volcanic eruption and one last winter and one last smile – but my time has run out.

She ran through the rain, the cold water dripping down the sides of her face and into the flowery dress that now clung scandalously to her body. The sun hovered lazily at the edge of the horizon, darkness only moments away. It was not far now. The Tower. She could already see it in the distance, rising up to the faintly star-studded sky, perfectly camouflaged against its surroundings. Hidden away from everybody else. It was sanctuary, her refuge. And as she made her way through the dense jungle, eyes focused only on her destination, she nearly stumbled and fell into a deep puddle of disturbed water. A stab of pain in her right ankle accompanied her regaining her balance. This was no time to fall.

Not much further now..

He was waiting at the foot of the tower when she got there. ‘You’re all drenched,’ he said, smiling. She wanted to throw herself into his arms like the long lost friends that they were. Instead, she insipidly nodded, looking around to see what had changed since the last time she had visited him here. The garden had grown wild, and there were flowers everywhere, yet she could see that he thought they bloomed to spite him, and she did her best not to speak of them or even think of them.

The flowers rustled quietly in the wind, as if begging to be touched.

Instead, she reached out and touched him, once, gently, the skin above his collar warm against her icy fingers. (Though perhaps that was the rain’s fault) She would have kissed him then, too, but they were supposed to be adults, and she was supposed to be a certain way that existed between two narrow lines of acceptable behavior. She satisfied herself by studying his profile instead, and as he spoke to her of troubles and amusements, she ached to run her fingers through his midnight hair. He smiled at her indulgently as she concentrated on the pieces of him that she could still see, that were still open to her, and then he turned away, leaving her to make her own way up the tower. It would take him a while to put away his weapons, lead the horses back to their stables and then join her. So she climbed the endless spiraling staircase herself, fingers curled around the cold railing in the dark, ankle still throbbing with a dull pain that she tried her best to ignore, water still dripping down her body in tiny rivulets and large drops.

It was a long way down.

Standing at the top, she felt a rush of giddy feeling sweeping over her. Perhaps things were finally changing for the better. Perhaps, the war was finally done with them. Perhaps, tonight, they could begin rebuilding everything that the fire had destroyed. Perhaps he would even remember what he had once sworn to her, a long long time ago, before the first war had started. But, somewhere within, she already knew what he always had; that the damage was done.

There was no going back.

Still, she thought wistfully, as she heard the wooden door rattle, and rushed to the door to let him in, beaming from ear to ear even as he breathed deeply, in an attempt to catch his breath after the steep climb. His hair was disheveled and wild as he stripped away his sweat soaked shirt and changed into the torn colorless gray garb that he seemed to favor. His eyes were always tired, even before the war, but lately it felt like even his own smiles stopped before they could reach his eyes. Still, he was beautiful to her.

And she smiled as she touched him again.

War or no war, every single ounce of pain was worth being able to stand here, so close to him, worth being able to touch him, even if he distractedly moved her hand away, or quickly sat down to pour over his books and maps before she had even finished saying what she was saying. It wasn’t important, surely. Not as vital as this memory of a present yet to be transformed into the past. His eyes glowed tirelessly as he sat at his desk late into the night, and she watched him sitting there for hours, until sleep tugged at her eye-lids and dragged her to its realm. Even then, she only truly breathed easy when she felt him climb into bed with her, his presence all the reassurance that she had ever needed.

The nights were the hardest part of her exile.

But in the present, (or maybe it was already the past, she thought sadly), her hand sought his as the World continued its indiscriminate and cruelly pre-meditated murdering and looting by bombs and missiles and soldiers all around their fortified turret. And even though he drew away from her subconscious need to feel his skin against her own, they both sighed peacefully and leaned into one another.